El conflicto epistémico de la pulsión

This article analyzed the epistemological validity of the term drive (trieb) in psychoanalysis by contrasting its supposed biological origin in Sigmund Freud's theory with recent genetic results. Culture, for Freud, appeared in a moment of human evolution when it became necessary for our ancestors to form alliances in order to face natural hazards. Therefore culture’s main purpose is to protect us from nature and to regulate social relationships. Consequently it is implied that drives formed part of human’s nature before culture existed and due to drive’s sacrifice that culture demands it’s possible to live in society. Given that drives, in Freud’s theory, are the source of psychic suffering and the resources used to defend against it are cultural, the way in which these are considered have repercussions on the basis of clinical interventions and the aims of psychoanalytical treatment. At present, genetics questions the idea that human nature cannot be modified by culture. In other words, epigenetic studies, assisted reproduction, cloning, among others, seriously query the idea of an unchangeable human nature.